Report on meeting w/ 33rd Ward & CPD: John F. had informal discussion with Pat Lavar about the DFA and what happened in Osterman’s ward. Pat seemed willing to negotiate to complete the dog park and tennis court if ward provided a certain amount of funds; he was going to talk to Deb Mell about this. John and Erica met with Deb Mell and Jason Hernandez about this; talks are still in the works. The issue is how much money is needed. Deb Mell has asked everyone to be patient.

Current project, per specs, would be about $300,000 with canine grass

Discussion regarding the historical funding of dog parks and how they had different sources of funding that are not available to Horner Park DFA. Perhaps developers could be incentivized to give to the DFA?

State budget impasse has impacted overall park funding

Nominating Committee

Introducing Cynthia Fox; we need to check bylaws regarding voting privileges; John O. has nominated her for co-secretary position. Cynthia is elected Co-Secretary.

Park Briefs

Horner Park

Art Room air conditioning: waiting on the debit card to order these

Tennis courts: Discussion of funding in DFA area; hoping that this can be bundled.

Walking Museum / Horner Ring concept (see link below) – Fawn Pochel.

History of the project and its funding; the project is projected to go through 7 neighborhoods and 5 wards. Have aldermanic support, looking for community support.

Two native prairie gardens and two art installations are being proposed, one in Horner Park. Educational initiative and encouraging tourism

CPD and Cook County Forest Preserve have letters of support

They’re working on advisory council outreach

Concern about plans taking up Army Corps project space that would need to be paid back, and how this recently done area shouldn’t be touched.

Discussion of project aspects that may touch Horner Park

Invitation to have HPAC member at a steering meeting this November, date TBD. Fawn to send email with that date and will come as often as possible to HPAC group.

Discussion of American Indian Center, which has moved to Kimball/Ainslie in Albany Park.

Turkey Trot

November 18, 9:30am. Deb doesn’t need help from HPAC the day of the event, as she has volunteers lined up. Deb requests turkeys and pies from HPAC. Asking for a max of $300. Motion passes to give the money for this event. Hoping for 300 people.

Ravenswood Manor Park

Grass: seeding is scheduled to occur this fall (along with Farmers Market area)

Planter is going to be moved once machine is fixed

Jacob Playlot

No report

Sunken Garden

No report

Buffalo Park

Deb spoke with them about moving the planter; the machine they’d use to move it is in the shop.

· New Business

33rd Ward TAC committee –Dan and Jennifer reported that the committee is asking for a blitz of the 33rd ward; asking every group to start calling 311 or using app to report potholes, crosswalks that need to be repainted, damaged ADA ramps, etc.

Discussion about the art community in the area; is there an opportunity to host an art event at the fieldhouse? There’s a meeting tomorrow, 7pm at NRC offices (Lawrence and Kimball) for how to bring more art to these communities. Amy and Diane to try and attend.

Takeaways from Budget Hearing:

Tree Walk with Open Lands in November, date TBD

TreeKeepers asking to host their meeting next fall

Surprise visit from Mayor a couple weeks ago to see how the restoration is going; it showed very well. Nice that it’s on the Mayor’s radar. Sept. 1, 2018; maybe there will be a ribbon-cutting event for this? Maybe there could be a push for programming for kids along the river, promoting recreational activities and river safety. Mike Kelly liked this idea a lot, is contacting Friends of the River to see what the possibilities are. Horner may be a pilot program for this?